Chapter 7

But to make up for it, their oldest poetry is still dimly conscious of another name of Wuotan, which again the Edda only mentions cursorily, though in Sæm. 46 it speaks of Oski and Omi in a breath, and in 91 uses Omi once more for Oðinn. Now this Omi stands related to ômr, sonus, fragor, as the AS. wôma to wôm, clamor, sonitus; I have quoted instances in Andr. and El. pp. xxx, xxxi, to which may now be added from the Cod. exon.: heofonwôma 52, 18. 62, 10; dægredwôma 179, 24; hildewôma 250, 32. 282, 15; wîges wôma 277, 5; wintres wôma 292, 22: in the last, the meaning of hiemis impetus, fragor, furor, is self-evident, and we see ourselves led up to the thought which antiquity connected with Wuotan himself: out of this living god were evolved the obstractions wuot (furor), wunsch (ideal), wôma (impetus, fragor). The gracious and grace-bestowing god was at other times called the stormful, the terror-striking, who sends a thrill through nature; even so the ON. has both an Yggr standing for Oðinn, and an yggr for terror. The AS. wôma is no longer found as Wôma; in OHG. wuomo and Wuomo are alike unknown. Thorpe renders the 'heofonwôman' above in a local sense by 'heaven's corners,' I doubt if correctly; in both the passages coeli fragores are meant. We may however imagine Omi, Wôma as an air-god, like the Hindu Indras, whose rush is heard in the sky at break of day, in the din of battle, and the tramp of the 'furious host' (see Suppl.).

Precisely as the souls of slain warriors arrive at Indra's heaven, (17) the victory- dispensing god of our ancestors takes up the heroes that fall in fight, into his fellowship, into his army, into his heavenly dwelling. Probably it has been the belief of all good men, that after death they would be admitted to a closer communion with diety. Dying is therefore, even according to the christian view, called going to God, turning home to God: in AS. metodscaft seon, Beow. 2360. Cædm. 104, 31. Or seeking, visiting God: OS. god suokian, Hel. 174, 26; fadar suokion, Hel. 143, 23; upôdashêm, lioht ôdar, sinlîf, godes rîki suokians, Hel. 85, 21. 17, 17. 63, 14. 137, 16. 176, 5. In a like sense the Thracians, acc. to Herodotus 4, 94, said ienai para Zulmoxin (Gebeleizin) daimona, which Zalmoxis or Zamolxes is held by Jornandes to be a deified king of the Goths (Getae). In the North, faring to Oðinn, being guest with Oðinn, visiting Oðinn, meant simply to die, Fornald. sög. 1, 118. 422-3, 2, 366. and was synonymous with faring to Valhöll, being guest at Valhöll, ib. 1, 106. Among the christians, these were turned into curses: far þû til Oðins! Oðins eigi þik! may Oðin's have thee (see Suppl.). Here is shown the inversion of the kindly being, with whom one fain would dwell, into an evil one, (18) whose abode inspires fear and dread. Further on, we shall exhibit more in detail the way in which Wuotan was pictured driving through the air at the head of the 'furious (wütende) host' named after him. Valhöll (aula optionis) and Valkyrja obviously express the notion of wish and choice (Germ. wahl, Scotch wale).

Of the peculiarities of figure and outward appearance of this god, which are brought out in such bold relief in the northern myths, I have found but few traces left among us in Germany. The Norse Oðinn is one-eyed, he wears a broad hat and wide mantle: Grimnir î feldi blâm, blue cloak, Sæm. 40. î heklu grænni ok blâm brôkum, green cloak and blue breeks, Fornald. sög. 1, 324. heklumaðr, cloaked man, 1, 325. When he desired to drink of Mîmi's fountain, he was obliged to leave one of his eyes in pawn, Sæm. 4, Sn. 15. (19) In Saxo, p. 12, he appears as grandaevus, altero orbus oculo; p. 37, armipotens, uno semper contentus ocello; p. 138, senex orbus oculis, hispido amictu. So in the Sagas: kom þar maðr gamall, miök orðspakr, einsýnn ok augdapr, ok hafði hatt sîðan; there came an old man, very word-wise, one-eyed and sad-eyed, and had a wide hat, Fornm. sög. 2, 138. hann hafir heklu flekkôtta ytir ser, sâ maðr var berfættr ok hafði knýtt lînbrôkum at beini, hann var hâr miök (very high), ok eldiligr ok einsýnn, Fornald. sög. 1, 120. þa kom maðr î bardagann með sîðann hatt ok heklu blâ (20) hann hafði eitt auga, ok geir (spear) î hendi, ib. 1, 145. þetta mun Oðinn gamli verit hafa, ok at vîsu var maðrinn einsýnn, ib. 1, 95. sâ hann mann mikinn með sîðun hetti, ib. 5, 250. með hetti Hângatýss gânga, cum cidari Odiniana incedere, Vigagl. saga, p. 168. Othinus, os pileo, ne cultu proderetur, obnubens, Saxo Gram. 44. An Eddic song already names him Sîðhöttr, broad-hatted, Sæm. 46, and one saga merely Höttr, hatted, Fornald. sög. 2, 25-6; conf. Müller sagabibl. 3, 142. Were it not for the name given him in the Grîmnismâl, I should have supposed it was the intention of the christians to degrade the old god by mean clothing, or else that, wrapt in his mantle, he was trying to conceal himself from christians. Have we a right here to bring in the pileati of Jornandes? A saga in Saxo, p. 12, tells prettily, how the blind old god takes up a protégé in his cloak, and carries him through the air, but Hading, peeping through a hole in the garment, observes that the horse is stepping over the sea-waves. As for that heklumaðr of the hat with its rim turned up, he is our Hakolberend at the head of the wild host, who can at once be turned into a Gothic Hakulabaírands, now that hakula for felonhj is found in 2 Tim. iv. 13.----Swedish folk-tales picture Odin as bald-headed, Iduna 10, 231. In the ancient poetry he is Harbarðr, Sîðgrani, Sîðskeggr, all in allusion to his thick growth of hair and beard. The name Redbeard I have elsewhere understood of Thor, but in Fornald. sög. 2, 239--257 the Grani and Rauðgrani are expressly Oðinn (see Suppl.).

The Norse myth arms Oðinn with a wonderful spear (geir), Gûngnir by name, Sæm. 196. Sn. 72; which I put on a par with the lance or sword of Mars, not the staff of Mercury. Sigmund's sword breaks, when he hacks at Oðinn's spear, Völs. saga cap. 11. He lends this spear to heroes to win victories with, Sæm. 165. A remarkable passage in the Fornm. sög. 5, 250 says: seldi honum reyrspiôta (gave him the reeden spear) î hönd, ok bað hann skiôta honum yfir lið Styrbiarnar, ok þat skyldi hann mæla: Oðin â yðr alla! All the enemies over whom the spear he shoots shall fly, are doomed to death, and the shooter obtains the victory. So too the Eyrbyggja saga p. 228: þâ skaut Steinþôrr at fornom sið til heilla ser yfir flock Snorra; where, it is true, nothing is said of the spear launched over the enemy being the god's. Sæm. 5, of Oðinn himself: fleigði ok î fôlk um skaut (see Suppl.).  
 



ENDNOTES:

17. Bopp's Nalas, p. 264.  (back)

18. So Wuotan's name of itself degenerates into the sense of fury (wut) and anger; the Edda has instances of it. In revenge he pricked Brynhild with the sleeping-thorn, Sæm. 194, and she says: Oðinn þvi veldr, er ek eigi mâttak bregða blunnstöfom. He breeds enmity and strife: einn veldr Oðinn öllu bölvi, þviat með sifjungom sakrûnar bar, Sæm. 165. inimicitias Othinus serit, Saxo gram. p. 142, as christians say of the devil, that he sows the seeds of discord. gremi Oðins, Sæm. 151 (see Suppl.).  (back)

19. Conf. Tritas in the fountain, Kuhn in Höfer 1, 290. Acc. to the popular religion, you must not look into running water, because you look into God's eye, Tobler's Appenzel, p. 369; neither must you point at the stars with your fingers, for fear of sticking them into the angel's eyes.  (back)

20. There is a Swed. märchen of Greymantle (grakappan), Molbech 14, who, like Mary in German tales, takes one up to heaven and forbids the opening of a lock, Kinderm. 3, 407.  (back)